14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new scientific investigation, it would appear that eating well and exercising regularly are habits that can be picked up by people if they see those around them doing it too.
The social network each of us developed plays an important part in out lives, say researchers behind the study. They add that healthy behaviors are subjected to social norms in a social group.
In other words, it could that a community accepts and encourages obesity. Lean people are singled out, and they are a lot more likely to get fat as a result. The very same thing works the other way around.
For the purpose of this investigation, experts defined social norms as the set of acceptable behaviors each community or social group has. If healthy eating and exercises are widely practiced within a group, the vast majority of its members will seek to conform to the norm.
According to the team behind the research, it could be that this trend of imitating others is inscribed in our genes, as a direct response to our desire and need to be accepted, and feel socially-included.
“You want to fit in, so you want to do the things in that other people in your community are doing,” explains University of Minnesota (UM) School of Public Health study researcher Robert Jeffery.
Following the research, scientists at the university believe that public health campaigns focused on altering social norms – rather than the desires of single individuals – may be more effective in curbing sedentary lifestyles, and the rampant spread of obesity the developed world is currently facing.
“The more information you have out there, the more likely people are to change their perceptions of how important [that particular behavior] is,” Jeffery adds, quoted by LiveScience.
In addition to social norms, a huge role is also played by social support. Researchers define this as the acclamation, assistance and advices each individual gets from their closest friends and family.
While past studies did demonstrate that obesity, for example, can spread through social networks, they did not account for the influence of social norms on each person.
In the new experiments, carried out on 3,610 Australian women, experts covered this as well, asking the test subjects about their friends and neighbors' behavior, as well as about the advice they received from friends and family.
Full details of the new investigation are scheduled to be published in an upcoming issue of the esteemed International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.